Auckland to auction flight info board
Auckland Airport will auction off piece of its old school flight information board to raise money for charity. More than 100 pieces of the solari board – described by the airport at “the type that flicks through the alphabet to find the right letter” – are up for online auction beginning at 9 am tomorrow
Qantas 747 mishap blamed on ageing engine parts
The uncontained failure of a Qantas 747’s RB211 engine near San Francisco in 2010 was caused by the fracture of an ageing engine turbine blade, the ATSB has confirmed. Engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce has already concluded that a fatigue fracture of a single stage-2 low pressure turbine blade inside the RB211 was to blame for the
Boeing hits 737 milestone
Boeing has rolled out its 4000th Next Generation 737, a 126-passenger 737-700 destined for China Southern Airways. The milestone comes as Boeing ramps up 737 production to whittle down a backlog of more than 2600 orders. The US planemaker hopes to hit a production target of 42 aircraft per month by 2014. Somewhat confusingly, Boeing
Virgin to cut Gold Coast-Townsville flights
Virgin Australia will end its thrice weekly flights between Townsville and the Gold Coast from May 3 due to poor demand. The airline said the route had been under review for some time and continuing revenue losses meant the flights would be scuttled in favour of increased services from the Gold Coast to Sydney and
Qantas spruiks biofuels with A330 flight
A biofuel powered Qantas A330 took to the skies today in an Australian first as the airline announced a new government-backed effort to study the feasibility of an Australian biofuel industry. “Australia has the skills, resources and infrastructure to take the lead in this emerging sector,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said in a press conference
Emirates to launch 2nd weekly cargo flight to Sydney
The cargo wing of Emirates Airlines will launch a second weekly freighter flight to Sydney in what the airline calls a sign of Australia’s growing importance in international trade. Emirates SkyCargo currently operates a single weekly Boeing 777 freighter flight on its Dubai-Singapore-Sydney-Hong Kong-Dubai route. That service launched seven months ago. “The demand for a
